Please Please Me – Knight of Wands
(McCartney/Lennon)
Please Please Me, 1963
As soon as the Beatles finished recording their second single, “Please Please Me”, producer George Martin confidently proclaimed they’d just made their first number one. He was proven correct. It was the song that launched Beatlemania in their native UK, and as the song climbed the pop charts, the boys were rushed back into the studio to catch lightning in a bottle by recording their debut album. Soon that album – also titled Please Please Me – would shoot to #1 too. It was early 1963, and the Beatles had made it to the toppermost of the poppermost!
History would have gone much differently, had the Beatles not heeded the advice of their wise sage of a producer. John Lennon wrote “Please Please Me” in a style similar to Roy Orbison; the tempo was slow, the arrangement was sparse, and it was sung melodramatically. When the band originally played it for consideration for their first single, Martin rejected it. He suggested playing it faster and with greater energy. So before taking another shot at recording it, they radically changed the arrangement, and now the song captured the enormous fun and spirit of their early music and live shows.
Hanson Roberts Tarot
It’s too bad there’s no recording of the initial version of “Please Please Me”; it would be a fascinating artifact of musical history. Listening to Roy Orbison, we can probably guess it sounded overemotional if not downright schmaltzy. Although that style worked wonderfully for Roy, the Beatles needed a song that captured their infectious energy. In that regard, everything about the final version of “Please Please Me” was a huge success: the upbeat tempo accompanied by lively bass and harmonica; Paul’s high-pitched one-note harmony during the verses; and of course the ascending call-and-response of “Come on!”, climaxing in the second “Please” of each refrain. (“please PLEEEAAASE me, oh yeah, like I please you.”)
Lyrically the song is loaded with sexual innuendo, as the singer is pleading with his girlfriend to reciprocate his advances. The lyrics, combined with the highly energetic nature of the song, makes the Knight of Wands the tarot card that best fits “Please Please Me”. The tarot’s Knights each represent a personification of the suit’s element, taken to their extreme. Wands are the suit representing the element of Fire, and Fire is the element of energy. So while all cards in the suit of Wands represent energy in some way, the Knight is special because it symbolizes someone consumed with Fire, sexual or otherwise.
When you receive the Knight of Wands in a reading, consider the history-making advice the Beatles got from George Martin. Perhaps it’s time to infuse a big dose of energy into your situation. Increase your tempo, bring more passion, and get moving with greater spirit, intensity, and vitality.
Notable Lyric:
“Come on (Come on)
Come on (Come on)
Come on (Come on)
Come on (Come on)
Please please me, whoa, yeah
Like I please you.”
This is song #65 of the Beatles Song Tarot Project. Click here to learn more about this magical, mystical trip through the Beatles catalogue. (Scroll down to view their first performance of the song in America!)
